Botany
A fast-growing evergreen tree growing to a height of 30 meters. Leaves are in fascicles of 3 to 5, glossy dark green, up to 30 centimeters long. Cones are conic-oblong, up to 15 centimeters long.

Distribution
Recently introduced to the Philippines.
Found in the high altitude areas of the Mountain Province.
Occasionally cultivated in the lowlands where it thrives poorly.

Constituents
• Crude leaf extracts showed resin characteristics with pH around 3.), attributable to phenolic acid.
• Bark yields procyanidins.

Parts used
Leaves, bark, latex.

Uses
Folkloric
No recorded folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.

Studies
• Antioxidant / antimutagenic: A study showed Pinus caribeae and C. citratus extracts were antigenotoxic suggesting antimutagenic components and activity unlike its antioxidant activity.
• Antimicrobial: One of the plants extracts in a study to evaluate antimicrobial activity, Pinus caribaea showed moderate activity against Bacillus sp.
• Larvicidal / Aedes aegypti / Lignins: Study evaluated the larvicidal activity of dried leaf extracts of Pinus caribaea against Aedes aegypti. Results showed the acetone extract to be the most active, and the larvidicldal activity was associted with lignin concentration.
• Pulping Studies: Study evaluated Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis and Pinus oocarpa for their potential as pulpwood species. Caribaea yielded 45% and P.occarpa yielded 46% of pulp with a kappa no of 40. All mechanical and thermo-mechanical pulps from these species were suitable for newsprint.
• Procyanidins / Anti-Cancer / Radical Scavenging Activity: Study evaluated the biological activities of procyanidins from the bark of Pinus caribaea. Study showed strong radical scavenging activity using a DPPH assay. Study also showed a stronginhibition effect of the bark procyanidins on promyelocytic cells HL-6), an effective inhibition on human adenocarcinoma cells BGC-823, and human hepatocellular carcinoma cells BEL-7402.
• Bark Tannins / Antigenotoxic Against Gamma-Rays: Study evaluated the genotoxicity and antigenotoxicity of a tannin fraction from the bark of Pinus caribaea against gamma-rays. Results showed antigenotoxic activity against gamma-rays when in experimental E. coli cells were pre- or co-treated with the extracts, but no during post-irradiation treatment.


Availability
Wildcrafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Usefulness of the SOS chromotest in the study of medicinal plants as radioprotectors
International journal of radiation biology ISSN 0955-3002 / 2006, vol. 82, no5, pp. 323-329
(2)
DIFFERENTIAL SENSITIVITY OF BACILLUS sp. ISOLATED FROM ARCHIVE MATERIALS TO PLANT EXTRACTS
Pharmacologyonline 3: 649-658 (2008)
(3)
Efeito larvicida dos extratos de folhas secas de Pinus caribaea contra Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) (Diptera: Culicidae) / Luiz Alberto KanisI; Rodrigo Damian AntonioI; Ériston Paes AntunesI; Josiane Somariva ProphiroII; Onilda Santos da SilvaII / Rev. Soc. Bras. Med. Trop. vol.42 no.4 Uberaba July/Aug. 2009 / http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0037-86822009000400003
(4)
Pulping studies of Pinus caribaea and Pinus oocarpa growing in Zimbabwe / RAD, Research for Development, 1982-1984
(5)
Biological activities of procyanidins from the bark of Pinus caribaea Morelet / Natural Product Research: Formerly Natural Product Letters, Volume 23, Issue 8, 2009 / Zhengge Zhanga, Xueyu Dua & Fei Wanga* / DOI: 10.1080/14786410802242984
(6)
Tannins from barks of Pinus caribaea protect Escherichia coli cells against DNA damage induced by gamma-rays. / Fuentes JL, Vernhe M, Cuetara EB, Sánchez-Lamar A, Santana JL, Llagostera M / Fitoterapia 77:2 2006 Feb pg 116-20
(7)
Sorting Pinus names / Maintained by: Michel H. Porcher, / MULTILINGUAL MULTISCRIPT PLANT NAME DATABASE / A Work in Progress / Copyright © 1997 - 2000 The University of Melbourne
(8)
Pinus caribaea Morelet / Chinese names / Catalogue of Life, China